On the first of January 2009 I found myself searching an external hard drive trying to find a photo, at first I couldn’t find the folder and was starting to panic, after a bit of digging I found the folder but not the photo…
While searching through this folder I found another, one that had no business being where it was, but within that folder was file after file of my writings, from my most prolific time. As I went through I came across a file named ‘cookies.wri’ I clicked on it and got it to open in Mac’s Text Editor. What I saw floored me, in half garbled but still decipherable text was my chocolate chip cookie recipe that went missing a decade ago.
This isn’t just any recipe, it’s the first recipe that I created and wrote down. I used to spend a long weekend every couple of months in my kitchen baking upwards of 3,300 of these cookies to go to patients in AIDS wards and hospices around Los Angeles.
So today, I got home and decided to bake them and see how the recipe holds up not only to my increased abilities, but to my more discerning palette. I think this may say it all.
So here is my original recipe circa 1991 gone missing in 1997 and first seen the light of pixels on my screen Jan 1, 2009.
CHAZ’S CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
1 1/4 Cups flour
1/2 Cup PACKED Dark Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Butter (softened)
1/4 Cup Sugar
1 Egg, beaten
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces chocolate chips
Mix all dry ingredients together thoroughly add softened butter, egg and vanilla mix* until dough forms. Add Chocolate chips. Roll dough into a ball and then break off chunks to form cookies.
Bake in oven at 375 8-10 minutes or till golden brown
makes 25 to 35 cookies depending on size.
Notes: I got 24 exactly this time. *This recipe predates my owning a stand mixer by 13 years. So when I say “Mix” I mean get your hands in there and knead this dough to consistency.
More photos here: http://flickr.com/photos/charlesfrench/sets/72157612083041328/
